The present invention relates generally to craft wire. More particularly, the present invention relates to fabric-wrapped craft wire.
Arts and crafts are very popular activities among people of all ages and backgrounds. Craft wire is used in a variety of arts and crafts decorating activities such as scrapbooking, jewelry-making, toy-making, card-making, costume-making, etc. A particular form of craft wire used in these projects is called a “chenille stem”. Typically, the chenille stem resembles an old-fashioned pipe cleaner where wire has been twisted along its length around individual cotton fibers or the like to retain those fibers in order to create a craft wire with a soft, fuzzy feel. Another type of stem is the so-called “tinsel stem” where wire has been twisted along its length around tinsel material to create a craft wire with a metallic, shiny look. However, the stems described above have certain disadvantages. The chenille stems are generally mono-colored and lack a variety of complex patterns since the stems are formed using individual material fibers rather than a fabric. Another disadvantage is that twisting the wire requires that a greater length of wire must be used to create a finished stem of a certain length.
Various attempts have been made to incorporate chenille stems and wire into decorative objects. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,604 discloses an artificial stem for a natural cut flower that uses a chenille wire as the stem. However, the artificial stem suffers from the same disadvantages as described above, especially since the stem must be mono-colored to maintain resemblance to a natural flower stem. In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,234 also discloses an artificial stem assembly for a short stem cut flower. However, the artificial stem requires an exterior tube, a flocked wire positioned within the tube, and a length of water absorbent cotton wrapped around the flocked wire with the artificial stem only being intended to provide a mechanism for transporting water to the natural cut flower.
Accordingly, there is a need for a decorative craft wire that provides a chenille feel using a fabric instead of individual fibers. There is an additional need for a decorative craft wire that provides a spiral wrapping look. There is also a need for a decorative craft wire that provides a chenille feel while using less wire than conventional twisted wire chenille stems. There is a further need for a decorative craft wire that provides a chenille feel with a choice of a type of fabric material and/or fabric pattern. There is an additional need for a decorative craft wire that provides a chenille feel with a choice of fabric color and/or color pattern. There is a need for a decorative craft wire that provides color patterns disposed between fluffy portions along the length of the decorative craft wire. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.